Games
by ShadowRunner
Summary: When an innocent game goes too far Elisa, Matt and Goliath must find a way to put a stop to the antics.


****

Games

By Shadow Runner

shadow_runner4u@hotmail.com

The Gargoyles are not mine (although God only knows what I would do if they were) so no copyright infringement is intended. The incident with the thief is a recount of an actual criminal case that took place in I believe North Carolina. I simply borrowed the account for my story so infringement is intended for this either. Also the included pranks are ones that either myself or friends of mine have pulled over the years. I DO NOT recommend pulling them on someone else unless you KNOW them pretty well. Believe me… paybacks can be a bitch!!! 

Happy Reading J 

****

***** ***** *****

It began innocently enough with a question. 

"Goliath… when was the last time you played a practical joke on someone?" 

Goliath glanced over to his companion and tilted his head to better catch a glimpse of Elisa's face, her chin propped casually against his shoulder. The twinkle in her eyes intrigued him so he folded the map of the city and set it aside.

"This topic is a far cry from the newest patrol routes we've been planning. Why do you ask?" 

She looked down and smiled to herself. "I don't know, It's just… well… something happened at work tonight." 

"A practical joke?" 

"Um-hmm. On Matt… Morgan pulled it." 

Goliath shifted slightly so that he was now leaning against the edge of the wall surrounding the top levels of the Castle so he could face her more easily. "Tell me." 

Elisa giggled again as she explained about how Matt discovered chocolate covered espresso beans several weeks earlier. Ever since then, he'd been brining in a bag to munch on during his shift. Two nights ago, Morgan came across some chocolate-covered grasshoppers at a local market and decided to switch them with Matt's espresso beans when he wasn't looking. Matt couldn't figure out why his snack had a different flavor until Morgan confessed… but only after Matt had eaten the entire bag. He was a good sport about the joke but needless to say, the prank opened the door for retaliation. Elisa laughed as she recalled that when she was signing out for the end of her shift she caught sight of Morgan scooping globs of shaving cream out of the top drawer of his desk.

Goliath threw back his head and chuckled at the tale, the wide smile revealing a gleam of upper canines. Leaning forward he pulled her tightly against his body and she snuggled in closer before pulling back from her embrace. 

"Anyway, I thought the whole incident was pretty funny and it got me wondering if you'd ever done anything like that when you were a kid..." Elisa blushed slightly at the thought of Goliath as a 'kid' so she amended her words by saying, "I mean a hatchling…"

Goliath's smile faded and was slowly replaced by an expression Elisa had seen few times since coming to know the gentle giant. "Gargoyles have never been afforded such opportunities nor have we been welcome to take part in many of your human traditions..." He paused for a somber moment before continuing, "In my century, much of our early lives was filled with defending our home from intruders…" 

Elisa pulled her brow slightly as she considered the fighting, the endless bloodshed, the innocent lives lost. "Do you ever regret that…?" she asked.

"No… It is that life which brought about the destruction on my Clan…" Goliath shook his head in an effort to clear the haunting images from his mind. "Things such as that I do not miss, Elisa." He leaned forward and kissed her brow lightly, "However if it makes you feel any better, I do see why you found the joke on Matt so amusing..."

Elisa returned his grin; however, the expressing quickly faded as she looked out over the New York City skyline. Far below them, she could hear the sounds of the city beginning to come to life, "I wish everything were so amusing…" she whispered softly.

"Perhaps one day… " Goliath's voice dropped as he noted the subtle shift in his beloved's expression and allowed his gaze to follow hers. Together they watched as the tell-tail signs of dawn slowly crept over the sky. Without speaking, he lifted her into his arms and leaped over the edge of the castle and drifted down to the lower courtyard. Just as they landed, the other members of the Clan slowly made their way out of the Great Hall and over to their respective spots.

The lavender gargoyle carefully lowered Elisa to the ground and gave her a lingering kiss on the lips. "When will I see you again?"

"Tonight…" Elisa blushed as a spread of warmth coursed through her entire body. "I know Matt wanted to talk to you about something so he'll probably come by with me."

"Then I look forward to that…"

The others smiled warmly at the pair as they casually walked hand in talon over to Goliath's traditional resting spot. In the months following the Clan's return to Castle Wyvern, the two of them were more open to displaying their affections for each other and it pleased the rest of the Clan immensely. In fact, even Hudson had commented that his one time protégé and the human detective seemed far happier now that they finally admitted their feelings for each other. 

Goliath shifted his attention to the rest of the Clan and once he was satisfied everyone was present and accounted for, he leaped up to take his position. Minutes later the Stone Sleep took hold and Elisa found herself alone. She waited unlit the sun rose high above the horizon before turning to leave. She hated having to end their time together on such a bitter note, but in retrospect they didn't have much choice. No matter how much they loved each other, there were still some gaps love would never be able to bridge between them.

__

In my time, Gargoyles were never really afforded such opportunities.

Goliath's words came back to her just as she was about to leave; however, just as quickly another thought occurred to her, one that she had to admit, was quite amusing. She paused as she considered the idea wondering if Goliath would find it amusing as well. 

Granted she couldn't, not to mention wouldn't, change what they were, but there was something she could do to bridge one of the illusive gaps between them. Quickly, she made her way through the Castle until she found who she was looking for in the kitchen area reading a newspaper, "Morning…" she called out pleasantly.

Fox Xanatos looked up in surprise upon seeing the detective leaning casually in the doorway. "Ahh… Hi… to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Elisa smiled mischievously, "I need a favor…"

***** ***** *****

Elisa and Matt Bluestone arrived at the Castle just as the sun drifted below the horizon. As soon as they walked out of the Great Hall they were welcomed by an assortment of roars and growls as the Clan woke from the Stone Sleep. 

Brooklyn and Broadway were the first to reach them, each peppering the detectives with ideas they'd come up with to patrol the city. Elisa listened politely as she waited for the others to join them. However, rather than taking her usual position at Goliath's side, she remained next to her partner and began jotting notes down on the yellow legal pad she held in her hand. 

Her actions were not lost on the Clan leader; however, before he could say anything Matt handed him a thick file, "Here… I was hoping you could take a look at this before heading out on patrol. Seems there's been a rash of break-ins on the upper side of town…" 

Goliath retrieved the file and began concentrating on the contents of pages. Within minutes, he heard a soft snorting sound that he immediately recognized as subdued laughter. Turning to the source, he eyed his second in command harshly, "Is there something you wish to share with the rest of us?"

The white haired gargoyle did his best to compose himself, Ah… no… Goliath… sorry…"

Goliath gave him one last harsh look before shifting his attention back to the report; however, he continued to hear the muffled snickers. From the corner of his eye, he saw Brooklyn nudge Broadway, who in turn whispered softly to Angela. Soon more giggling joined the burgundy gargoyle's surpressed laughter. In the end, Goliath decided it would be best to let it go for now and then reprimand Brooklyn later in private. It wasn't until he heard Matt begin to laugh that he lifted his eyes again, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry…" Matt did his best to keep a straight face but wasn't able to quite pull it off. "I just think a pale pink would go better with your loincloth." 

Goliath was confused, "Excuse me?" 

"The red nail polish." Matt motioned to Goliath's left hand. "I think pink would look better. Of course that's just my opinion." 

Goliath looked as at his taloned hand, then at Matt, and then at Elisa, who had the legal pad held up in front of her face. Her shoulders were shaking, and he could hear her struggling to control her giggles through various snorts and wheezes, "I see…"

That one statement was all it took for the others to loose control and soon the night was filled with rambunctious laughter. Once the hilarity died down, Matt wiped the tears from his eyes, "Actually, I really do need some help on these break-ins. Our suspect is walking off with some pretty high dollar merchandise and the Police Commissioner wants him off the streets before the election next week. I guess his constituents are the ones getting ripped off. Anyway, is there any chance you might be able to beef up your patrols in the area?"

"I believe we can accommodate your wishes…" Goliath replied as he rubbed his talons in a vain effort to remove the fingernail polish, "Brooklyn, you and I will patrol the area tonight… the rest of you stay close just in case…"

"Sure Goliath…" Brooklyn paused for a moment, "Ah… did you need some time to finish the rest of your nails or did you want to go out like that?" 

Brooklyn flinched but didn't move fast enough to avoid the flying body tackle Goliath launched at him. 

Hudson watched their antics for a minute before walking over to drape a fatherly arm over Elisa's shoulders, "Aye lass... ye realize he's going to be wantin' some revenge for this…"

Elisa gave him a quick hug before turning to follow Matt out of the courtyard and back into the castle. She glanced over she shoulder just in time to see Goliath flip Brooklyn over into a half nelson, "Ya think?"

***** ***** *****

Three nights later, Matt managed to capture his illusive thief, though it was more from sheer luck than actual detective work. The thief had successfully broke into a store's basement through a street-level window; however, he managed to cut himself up pretty badly in the process. Once he realized he couldn't get to the money from where he was he tried to leave. As fate would have it, the hapless thief was not able to climb back out the window he had entered and since he was bleeding pretty badly. In a panic he found a phone and dialed "911" for help. 

By the time she and Matt finished all the paperwork it was midmorning. Elisa stretched tiredly as she waited for Matt to sign them out of the day. Together they made their way down the steps of the 23rd Precinct towards the public parking lot at the end of the street. With all the construction still taking place at the 23rd, crews working on the renovations had commandeered the parking areas normally reserved for people assigned to the precinct. As they approached their vehicles they both conducted thorough inspections looking for any signs of damage or vandalism that was usually associated with public parking.

Elisa sighed in relief; however, Matt was scowling at what she could only assume was some new ding or scratch. From the expression on his face she figured it was a probably pretty bad. She opened the door to the Fairlane and tossed her jacket in before walking back over to her partner, "Did they at least leave you a note?" 

"Yeah… right here next to the cash for the repair…" he replied sarcastically. 

"You want me to stick around and help you file a report?"

"Naw… I'll just file it with my insurance company later…" He gave her a disgusted look, "I'm gonna be glad when we don't have to put up with this anymore…"

"You and me both." She gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and returned to her car. Climbing in she inserted the key in the ignition and listened as the engine roared to life. Checking for traffic behind her she shifted the car in reverse and went to ease out of the parking spot.

The car didn't move.

Elisa reached under the dash thinking she must have the left the brake on. Finding that was not the case, she shifted back into park then slowly dropped the lever back into reverse. Giving the engine a bit more gas she tried to back out again.

She still didn't move. 

Matt was about to pull out of his spot he saw his partner get out of her car. He watched as she dropped to her knees and seemed to be looking underneath the body. She then lowered her head to her chest and slowly stood up and started walking in his direction. Rolling down his window he shifted his own vehicle into park and waited until she leaned in and asked, "By any chance do you have a jack?"

"What's wrong? You got a flat…"

"No…" she sighed deeply, "I'm just a little surprised and impressed that he was able to pull it off without someone seeing him…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on…" She motioned for Matt to join her, "You're gonna want to see this…"

Perplex, he climbed out of his car and followed her. When they got close enough he dropped to his knees and peered underneath the Fairlane. The car seemed to be fine; however, a closer inspection told him otherwise as there four cinderblocks resting just behind each wheel, effectively lifting the entire car high enough for the wheels to be off the ground. 

Matt stood up slowly and gave his partner a compassionate smile while doing his best not to laugh at her situation, "He must have gotten one of the others to give him a hand…"

"I guess I can't say I didn't have this coming…" Elisa nodded in agreement, "But the upside is now we're even…" 

***** ***** *****

Despite Elisa and Goliath having called their own truce, the same could not be said for the rest of the Clan. It started after Broadway went to eat a hard boiled egg and poured salt over it only to discover Lexington had placed sugar in all the salt containers.

The following evening, Angela noticed Hudson and Bronx had fallen asleep in one of the rooms in front of the TV. After enlisting the assistance of Brooklyn and Broadway, the three of them put a line of baby powder along the bottom crack of the door then used a blow-dryer to spray the powder into a fine mist that covered everything in the room. Hudson was a good sport about it; however, it took the rest of the evening for him to get all the talcum powder off the TV so he could see it.

After that, the pranks took on a life of their own as each member of the Clan tried to out do the other. Most of the pranks were harmless enough; however, some were a bit more involved and as a result tended to affect others not involved in the game. 

A few nights after the talcum powder incident, Brooklyn took a length of rope and tied one end to the door of Lexington's computer room and the other end to the door of the room where Broadway was reading. He left six inches of slack in the rope and then waited until he was sure his rookery brothers were settled before pounding loudly on both doors. While it was entertaining on one level, the humor was lost on David Xanatos who was less than amused at having two irate gargoyles slamming each other's doors open and shut while he was trying to get Alexander to go to sleep.

At that point, Goliath advised them enough was enough and suggested the practical jokes needed to end. While he meant the pranks needed to stop completely, Brooklyn, Angela, Broadway, and Lexington simply took it to mean they could no longer play practical jokes in the castle.

However, they soon tired to pulling pranks on each other and decided to expand the game to include Elisa and Matt. The final straw happened when they went over to Matt's apartment on his night off to eat. It wasn't until after they left that Matt realized the group had superglued their dishes to the table. To make matter worse, they also glued down the silverware, napkins, salt, pepper, and anything else they could find that wasn't nailed down. 

Matt immediately called Elisa and filled her in, then asked her to bring over something that he could use to get the items off the table that wouldn't eat the finish off his wood table. She and Goliath had just returned to her apartment when the call came in so he heard first hand about what happened. Goliath was upset that his orders had not been followed; however, his emotions quickly turned to anger when Elisa got off the phone.

Her right ear was covered in black shoe polish.

Irritated beyond belief, she waited until Goliath left to use the speaker phone feature to call her mother since she had a pretty good idea where the Trio and Angela has gotten the idea for these particular pranks.

Derek had done the same kinds of things when he was younger. 

Diane Maza laughed out loud at the exploits then suggested several removers Matt could try that wouldn't damage the finish on the table. As an after thought she also recommended a good method of removing the shoe polish from her daughter's ear.

***** ***** *****

Elisa sat on the kitchen counter and observed as Matt struggled to remove the last remnants of paper napkins from his table. Finally succeeding in his task, he tossed the plastic scraper down and glared at his partner. "Elisa… You know I'm all about a good time but these guys are really going overboard. Last week, I had fifteen phone messages from just about every branch of the armed forces wanting to know when they could come by and signed me up. I'll be getting junk mail from them for years!"

"I know… I know… Two days ago I walked in my bathroom and saw that someone put half a dozen live goldfish in my toilet. I thought Cagney was gonna drown trying to get at them." She hopped down from the counter and turned to fill the sink, "Did you check the rest of your apartment?"

"Yeah and I didn't find any other little time bombs waiting to go off." he replied tersely, "Of course I guess they were too busy with the super glue to do anything else..."

Elisa shut off the water and watched as her partner tossed the glued dishes in the hot, soapy water so they could soak. "It could have been worse…" she offered lamely.

"How do you figure?" Elisa knew by his tone that it was a rhetorical question so she said nothing. Matt shook his head, "I though Goliath told them to cut this shit out…"

"So did he."

"Is he gonna do something?"

"I don't know. He said he come by later after he talked to them." Elisa rolled her head around in an effort to relieve some of her tension, "I don't know what he expects… I mean in the grand scope of things this kind of my fault since I was the one who started in with him…"

Matt was inclined to agree but refrained from saying as much. Instead, he moved to the automatic coffee maker and lifted the pot. Noting it felt especially heavy for coffee, he lifted the lid and groaned, "Do you like instant coffee?"

"Not especially. Why?"

"Because my coffee decanter is filled with chocolate pudding…"

Matt quickly locating the instant coffee and after determining there were no added surprises attached, he filled two mugs and handed one to Elisa. He motioned for her to join him in the living room area and the pair sat quietly on the couch until a soft thump from the balcony announced Goliath's arrival. Matt set his mug down and moved to open the window allowing the gargoyle in the room, "Evening Goliath… care for a cup of tea or something? I'm sure there's an extra mug around that's not glued down to anything."

"No… but thank-you…" Goliath gave Elisa a slight nod then turned his attentions back to Matt, "I'm sorry about the inconveniences my Clan has caused you. I've already spoken with them and they have agreed to put an end to this nonsense."

"Aw, don't worry about it. Come on in and take a seat." Matt smiled and pointed to a spot on the floor near Elisa and waited until the Clan Leader was settled before continuing, "I'm sure in about a year I'll pretty much be over being mad…"

"Still, "Goliath voiced softly, "They must be held accountable for their actions…"

"Maybe, but you'd better make sure the punishment fit the crime." Elisa set her own mug on the coffee table and traced a lazy finger over Goliath's shoulders, "You know… its kinda funny when you think about it. The whole situation kinda reminds me of my college days…"

"Me too." Matt paused to take a sip from his mug, "I remember this one time, me and three other guys took a 73 VW bug apart and put it back together in the Resident Advisor's room in a single night. He was pretty pissed about that one…"

Goliath seemed to consider this information for a moment longer than Elisa was comfortable with, "What?" she prompted.

"These… pranks… they are a right of passage for Humans?" 

"Sometimes," she replied warily, "But not always... Why do you ask?"

Not answering her question, Goliath turned to Matt, "Perhaps I will have a cup of tea…" 

***** ***** *****

It was nearly dawn by the time Goliath left the apartment. Under normal circumstances, Elisa would have gone home as well; however, after their all night conversation, she found herself wide-awake and giddy. Goliath knew he could not let the Clan's actions go unpunished but as Elisa so wisely put it, the punishment had fit the crime. They also had to make sure they got all four culprits at the same time. It had taken them several hours to come up with the idea but Matt was pretty sure they could pull it off since he'd seen something similar done once before. 

After making a few quick phone calls to the Castle, the chips were falling into place nicely but they wouldn't know for sure if it would work until the following night. Elisa mulled over their plan again before deciding she needed to think about something else for a while. Anxious for a diversion she decided to finish washing the remaining glue from Matt's dishes and silverware. 

"You ready?" He called out as he opened a closet door to retrieve his jacket.

"Yep…" Elisa nodded as she placed the last fork in the dish rack, "Grab my jacket for me would ya…"

Matt tossed it to her as he lifted his keys from the coffee table, "You think they'll really go for this?"

"Are you kidding me? Fox was practically drooling all over herself at the idea…" Elisa slipped into her jacket and followed her partner out the door, "Besides she was there for the first prank so it's only fitting that she be there for the last one…" 

***** ***** *****

"What the…?" As soon as he awoke from the Stone Sleep, Lexington knew something was wrong. For some reason his stone skin had not broken away freely as it normally did. He tried to shake his wings so he could break through the resistant layer of skin surrounding his body but they remained locked in place. Panicked, he whipped his head but it didn't take long to figure out what the problem was; however, he wasn't able to determine exactly how it had happened until he heard Matt's voice from behind him.

"Aw… something a matter guys?"

Brooklyn for his part did his best to look up but his position made it difficult to do so. After a few minutes of craning his neck around he was able to make eye contact with what he assumed were Elisa's knees, "Ha, Ha… very funny…" he replied through clenched teeth.

"We thought so…" Elisa couched down so he could see her without straining herself. 

Fox joined her a short time later. "I assume you won't be needing the backhoe any longer?" she inquired casually.

Elisa looked to the others before shaking her head, "No… I think we're good…"

Fox smiled mischievously, "I thought this might take awhile so I took the liberty of having the evening chef make extra sandwiches for you all. They're in the Great Hall when you get hungry…." She turned to leave and as she passed Broadway she reached down and patted him on the head affectionately causing him to jerk his head away in irritation, "My, my, my… aren't we a bit testy this evening…" she whispered softly as she walked back towards the castle.

The plan had worked like a charm but it hadn't been easy. Before leaving Matt's apartment, Goliath left explicit instructions that the holes should be aligned so that each person was able to look at the other three but nothing else. Once Elisa and Matt explained the requirements to Fox, it had taken them a better part of the day to figure out a way to dig the holes deep enough for each of the conspirators to be buried in a manor that would prevent an immediate escape at sundown. 

Elisa smiled happily and continued to do so until Goliath pulled her back to stand with him, Matt, Hudson, and Bronx. The five of them stood back far enough so the remaining members of the Clan could see them. Angela, Broadway, Lexington, and Brooklyn shifted uncomfortably and had pained expressions on their faces as they tried to figure out the best way to get loose. 

Goliath waited patiently for one them to speak out and as he expected, Angela was the first to object, "Father… don't you think this is a bit extreme?"

"Perhaps." He conceded as he addressed the group, "However, the four of you created this situation when you deliberately ignored my instructions to stop all this foolishness." Before his daughter could interject he added, "And under the circumstances I believe the punishment is most fitting…"

"So how come Hudson and Bronx aren't in here with us?" Lexington questioned.

Hudson puffed his chest out, "Aye laddie… none of yer antics were of our doin' so don't cha be trin' to include us in yer little mess." 

"Besides…" Matt snorted softly, "I don't remember Hudson gluing my blender to the countertop…"

"And I'm pretty sure Bronx wasn't the one who put shoe polish on my phone." Elisa added.

Angela, Brooklyn, and Lexington all shifted their gaze over to Broadway, who smiled sheepishly, "I didn't know we were gonna do the glue thing last night…" 

With that being said the rest of the group continued to issue their protests and did their best to explain why each of them as individuals should not be included in the group punishment. Brooklyn was about to add his own argument but thought better of it since there really was no point. Goliath was right. The four of them collectively had gotten themselves into this mess and accordingly, it seemed they were now going to have to figure out a way to 'dig' them selves out of it. 

He lowered his eyes in embarrassment. "I don't suppose apologizing would get us out of this any faster would it?"

"I expect that to happen once you've had time to think about this." Goliath grinned tightly, relieved to know that he'd gotten through to at least one of the four. He turned to the others and motioned them towards the Castle, "In the mean time, I believe I'm a tad bit hungry…"

From her position, Angela had the best view to watch them leave and once they were gone she turned to the others. "So how are we supposed to get out of this?" 

"Like this…" Broadway tried to thrash about for a few minutes before determining brut force was not going to free him. Dejectedly he stopped struggling and gazed at the others, "Anyone have any better ideas?"

They remained silent as they considered their options until Lexington figured out that if he worked his shoulders back and forth gradually he was able to loosen some of the dirt. The others followed his lead and with in a few hours they were able to free them selves from their punishment.

However, it was a long time before any of them worked up the courage to go back into the castle. 


End file.
